Deputy Project Manager

Job description

Join ispace EUROPE – Pioneering Lunar Exploration from Luxembourg With locations in Japan, Luxembourg, and the US, ispace is a global leader in lunar exploration. Our European branch, based in Luxembourg, is uniquely positioned at the heart of rover design, development, and operations. We’re building the foundations of a sustainable lunar economy — and expanding humanity’s reach beyond Earth. At ispace EU, engineers, business experts, and creatives work side by side to turn bold ideas into reality, driven by our mission: “Expand our Planet, Expand our Future.” **TITLE**: Deputy Project Manager **LOCATION:** Luxembourg **ABOUT THE ROLE** The Deputy Project Manager supports the successful delivery of lunar rover development programs by assisting in planning, execution, risk management, supplier coordination, schedule control, and customer reporting. The role acts as a key operational partner to the Project Manager and may serve as the PM's delegate when required. The position is based in Luxembourg. It will closely collaborate with ispace EUROPE’s team members and contractors, with special emphasis on supporting Project Management tasks. ### KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Support contractual negotiations with suppliers and customers, facilitating clarification and resolution of possible discrepancies. - Support the Project Manager in the preparation of project plans, the monitoring of project activities and the identification of deviations to the nominal path. - Support the Project Manager in the coordination of project activities and resources as normal work. Based on project objectives and due dates, monitor progress, support prioritization activities and provide recommendations to the Project Manager, ensure timely resolution of issues and avoid unjustified scope-creep. - Manage and maintain the project portfolio resource management tool, ensuring accurate resource allocation, capacity planning, and forecasting across all ispace EUROPE projects. - Estimate budgets, including personnel costs, travel cost, capital expenditures, etc. - Monitor baseline budget (labour costs and other project expenditures) and identify deviations - Support the Project Manager in the identification of project risks, estimating their probability and potential impact. Devise possible mitigations and monitor mitigation actions and evolution of risks. - Conduct regular schedule reviews with suppliers to ensure contractual milestones are achieved and potential delays are identified and mitigated early. - Maintain visibility of all critical supplier milestones and proactively identify impacts to program delivery schedules - Identify dependencies between supplier deliveries and project activities. Establish and maintain a clear critical-path view of supplier activities. - Prepare status reports, presentations, and review packages, including project KPI reporting, and support customer and management reviews. ### KEY REQUIREMENTS - Masters in an Engineering Discipline (Aerospace, Mechatronics, Tele-Communications or similar). Minimum of 3-5 years of experience supporting or leading engineering projects within the aerospace, space, defense, robotics, or high-technology sectors. - Demonstrates understanding of project management methodologies and tools, including cost estimation, project planning and control, resource management, risk assessment, and stakeholder reporting. - Ability to travel up to 25 percent of the time to support supplier oversight, schedule reviews, technical coordination, and project execution activities. - Experience developing and maintaining project documentation, including plans, schedules, status reports, risk registers, meeting records, and customer deliverables. - Excellent communication skills, with the ability to effectively engage and influence stakeholders at all levels, from technical contributors to senior management, customers, and suppliers. - Ability to influence multidisciplinary engineering teams without direct managerial authority. - Strong analytical and systems-thinking skills, with the ability to understand complex project environments, identify interdependencies across technical and programmatic domains, and assess their impact on project objectives. - Demonstrates ability to effectively prioritize tasks, resources, and competing demands in a dynamic project environment while maintaining focus on critical objectives and delivery milestones. - Experience supporting spaceflight hardware development programs - High level of proficiency in the English language is mandatory. ### PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS - Knowledge of systems engineering practices, fabrication, integration processes, quality and configuration management systems - Experience managing international suppliers and subcontractors - Experience with successfully engaging and collaborating with distributed teams - Experience with project management tools such as Microsoft Project, Primavera P6, Jira, Confluence, or equivalent. - Familiarity with Project Management Institute (PMI), ECSS, or equivalent project management frameworks. - Understanding of configuration management and product lifecycle management practices